Sheffield United drew with Norwich this weekend in another entertaining game at Bramall Lane, and Kevin Gage was full of praise for Ollie Norwood.
Norwood was once again key for United as they fought back from 2-0 down to snatch a point against the Canaries in a ferocious tie at Bramall Lane. Sitting in the midfield as usual, Norwood was one of the players who managed to remain composed as Norwich continually threw themselves to the ground in the second half.
However, while he might have remained calm, SUTV’s Kevin Gage believes Norwood is actually putting more tackles in than ever, as he praised his performance on Saturday.
“I call him the quarterback. He sits in the middle and dictates the entire team. He’s the one who can control it, although to be fair, he’s making more tackles this season and last than he ever has in his entire career. So he’s putting himself about a bit more. But he’s the cool calm head and can direct operations,” Gage said on SUTV.
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It’s not the first time this season Gage has praised Norwood’s tackling either. The midfielder was picked out after the win over QPR as well by Gage.
According to WhoScored, Gage’s comments are correct as well. Norwood is averaging 2.9 tackles per game for United, a number only beaten by Max Lowe when looking at players who have played 5 games or more. Quite remarkably, Enda Stevens made 8 tackles in the one game he did play.
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We all know how good of a passer he is and we all know how important he is to the 3-5-2 system. But Gage’s point about Norwood here is one that’s getting overlooked.
Norwood is really throwing himself into games now and even in the final third, he is creating chances for the attackers.
Out of all the players who need a new contract, Ollie Norwood is the one we need to tie down. He does a job in this league or the Premier League, and the board have got to get this one sorted out.
